''Seastones'' is an album by American composer and musician

Ned Lagin Ned Lagin (born March 17, 1948) is an American artist, photographer, scientist, composer, and keyboardist.Ned Lagin interview with David Gans, August 2001 in: Gans, David. Conversations with the Dead, The Grateful Dead Interview Book, Da Capo Pre ...

. In 1975 Lagin released the

quadraphonic Quadraphonic (or quadrophonic, also called quadrasonic or by the neologism quadio ortmanteau, formed by analogy with "stereo" sound – equivalent to what is now called 4.0 surround sound – uses four audio channels in which speakers are po ...

album of

electronic music Electronic music broadly is a group of music genres that employ electronic musical instruments, circuitry-based music technology and software, or general-purpose electronics (such as personal computers) in its creation. It includes both music ...

, (composed between 1970 and 1974), a small part of the complete ''Seastones'' composition, on

Round Records In 1973, the Grateful Dead established their own record label, Grateful Dead Records. The band released four vinyl record, vinyl LPs on the label in the mid-1970s: ''Wake of the Flood'' in 1973, ''From the Mars Hotel'' in 1974, ''Blues for Alla ...

and then

United Artists Records United Artists Records was an American record label founded by Max E. Youngstein of United Artists in 1957 to issue movie soundtracks. The label expanded into other genres, such as easy listening, jazz, pop, and R&B. History Genres In 1958 ...

.The Deadhead's Taping Compendium, Volume II: An In-Depth Guide to the Music of the Grateful Dead on Tape, 1975–1985 – by Michael M. Getz, John R. Dwork, Henry Holt and Company, New York; 1st edition (August 2, 1999). A new, two-CD album of ''Seastones'' was released on March 8, 2018.

Composition

Lagin composed ''Seastones'' over the course of five years. It was recorded and mixed in just as many studios, and mastered at a sixth. Much of the album consists of electronically processed traditional instruments and voice, and a cadre of synthesizers (a custom

E-mu E-mu Systems was a software synthesizer, audio interface, MIDI interface, and MIDI keyboard manufacturer. Founded in 1971 as a synthesizer maker, E-mu was a pioneer in samplers, sample-based drum machines and low-cost digital sampling music ...

Modular Synthesizer controlled by and processed through then-cutting-edge computer technology, with software patches and compositions by Lagin; an ARP 2500 and ARP 2600; and a

Buchla Buchla Electronic Musical Instruments (BEMI) was a manufacturer of synthesizers and unique MIDI controllers. The origins of the company could be found in Buchla & Associates, created in 1963 by synthesizer pioneer Don Buchla of Berkeley, Californ ...

Modular System). The early computers employed by Lagin included an

Interdata Interdata, Inc., was a computer company, founded in 1966 by a former Electronic Associates engineer, Daniel Sinnott, and was based in Oceanport, New Jersey. The company produced a line of 16- and 32-bit minicomputer A minicomputer, or col ...

7/16 computer with a high speed arithmetic logic unit and magnetic core memory; an

Intel 8080 The Intel 8080 is Intel's second 8-bit computing, 8-bit microprocessor. Introduced in April 1974, the 8080 was an enhanced successor to the earlier Intel 8008 microprocessor, although without binary compatibility.'' Electronic News'' was a week ...

microprocessor system built by Lagin; and at the beginning of 1975 an

Altair 8800 The Altair 8800 is a microcomputer introduced in 1974 by Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems (MITS) based on the Intel 8080 CPU. It was the first commercially successful personal computer. Interest in the Altair 8800 grew quickly after i ...

. The computer-controlled systems was designed and built for group live performance, with the performers' instruments and voices routed through analog and digital synthesis and processing hardware. ''Seastones'' was one of the first commercially released recordings to feature the use of digital computers, and Lagin was the first to perform on stage live with computers.Douglas Kahn, "Between a Bach and a Bard Place: Productive Constraint in Early Computer Arts" in MediaArtHistories, edited by Oliver Grau, The MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 2010. pg. 441. It was also a very early instance of multiple musicians' audio and control signals being interconnected before MIDI.Ned Lagin interview with David Gans, August 2001 in: Gans, David. Conversations with the Dead, The Grateful Dead Interview Book, Da Capo Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts 2002. pp. 343–389.

Production

The album was mixed in quadraphonic sound, released in quad-encoded stereo, and featured guest performances by members of the

Grateful Dead The Grateful Dead was an American rock music, rock band formed in Palo Alto, California, in 1965. Known for their eclectic style that fused elements of rock, blues, jazz, Folk music, folk, country music, country, bluegrass music, bluegrass, roc ...

, including

Jerry Garcia Jerome John Garcia (August 1, 1942 – August 9, 1995) was an American musician who was the lead guitarist and a vocalist with the rock band Grateful Dead, which he co-founded and which came to prominence during the counterculture of the 196 ...

playing processed electric and pedal steel guitars, and voice;

Phil Lesh Philip Chapman Lesh (March 15, 1940 – October 25, 2024) was an American musician and a founding member of the Grateful Dead, with whom he developed a unique style of improvised six-string bass guitar. He was their bassist throughout their 30 ...

playing electronic Alembic bass; and

Mickey Hart Mickey Hart (born Michael Steven Hartman, September 11, 1943) is an American percussionist. He is best known as one of the two drummers of the rock band Grateful Dead. He was a member of the Grateful Dead from September 1967 until February 19 ...

on processed percussion.

David Crosby David Van Cortlandt Crosby (August 14, 1941 – January 18, 2023) was an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He first found fame as a member of the Byrds, with whom he helped pioneer the genres of folk rock and psychedelic music, psych ...

(processed voice and electric 12-string guitar), and members of the

Jefferson Airplane Jefferson Airplane was an American Rock music, rock band formed in San Francisco, California, in 1965. One of the pioneering bands of psychedelic rock, the group defined the San Francisco Sound and was the first from the San Francisco Bay Area, ...

Grace Slick Grace Slick (born Grace Barnett Wing; October 30, 1939) is an American painter and retired musician whose musical career spanned four decades. She was a prominent figure in San Francisco's psychedelic music scene during the mid-1960s to the earl ...

(processed voice),

Spencer Dryden Spencer Charles Dryden (April 7, 1938 – January 11, 2005) was an American musician best known as the drummer for Jefferson Airplane and New Riders of the Purple Sage. He also played with Dinosaurs, and the Ashes (later known as the Peanut Butt ...

(processed percussion), and

David Freiberg David Freiberg ( ; born August 24, 1938) is an American musician best known for contributing vocals, keyboards, electric bass, rhythm guitar, viola and percussion as a member of Quicksilver Messenger Service, Jefferson Airplane, and Jefferson St ...

(processed voice) also appear on the album. ''Seastones'' was re-released in stereo on CD by Rykodisc in 1990. The CD version includes the original Round Records nine-section ''Seastones'' (42:34) from February 1975, and a previously unreleased, six-section version (31:05) from December 1975. Both are partial versions of the full composition, which has not been released. Other unreleased Lagin ''Seastones''-related compositions from the same period include ''L'' and ''Make a Cat Laugh''. A new, two CD album of ''Seastones'' was released on March 8, 2018. This album, not a re-issue, presents most but not all of the composition as originally composed but never released or heard before. For this release, ''Seastones'' was re-mixed and re-mastered in stereo. It includes most of the original 1970–1974 studio forms, those parts of Lagin's concurrent but unfinished composition ''L'' that are shared with ''Seastones'', as well as some of the moment forms generated and incorporated into the composition from live performances that took place from 1973 to 1975. This two CD album contains 83 tracks (54 tracks on CD One and 29 tracks on CD Two) and altogether is 111 minutes long.

Live performances

Ned Lagin performed versions of ''Seastones'' with Phil Lesh and with other members of the Grateful Dead at 23 Grateful Dead concerts between June 23, 1974, in Miami, and October 20, 1974, in San Francisco. These took place typically between the first and second sets of the regular Grateful Dead shows. At some concerts, ''Seastones'' would form an entire set, and at other shows it would segue into Grateful Dead songs such as "Playing in the Band" or "Dark Star". There were five live performances of ''Seastones'' that occurred outside of Grateful Dead shows: November 28, 1973, June 6, 1975, September 19, 1975, November 15, 1975, and November 22, 1975.''Seastones'' entry in ''The Compleat Grateful Dead Discography'' http://tcgdd.freeyellow.com . Retrieved September 23, 2013.

Critical reception

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

, Steven McDonald said, "In short, ''Seastones'' is electronic music of the best kind — a shifting sonic landscape out of which the strangest things may emerge."

Personnel

;Musicians *

–

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

clavichord The clavichord is a stringed rectangular keyboard instrument that was used largely in the Late Middle Ages, through the Renaissance music, Renaissance, Baroque music, Baroque and Classical period (music), Classical eras. Historically, it was most ...

organ Organ and organs may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a group of tissues organized to serve a common function * Organ system, a collection of organs that function together to carry out specific functions within the body. Musical instruments ...

prepared piano A prepared piano is a piano that has had its sounds temporarily altered by placing bolts, screws, mutes, rubber erasers, and/or other objects on or between the strings. Its invention is usually traced to John Cage's dance music for ''Works for pr ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

synthesizer A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis a ...

computer A computer is a machine that can be Computer programming, programmed to automatically Execution (computing), carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations (''computation''). Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic set ...

s *

–

electric bass The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an electric but with a longer neck and scale leng ...

–

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external electric Guitar amplifier, sound amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar. It uses one or more pickup (music technology), pickups ...

, voice *

–

electric twelve-string guitar A twelve-string guitar (or 12-string guitar) is a steel-string guitar with 12 strings in six courses, which produces a thicker, more ringing tone than a standard six-string guitar. Typically, the strings of the lower four courses are tuned in oc ...

, voice *

– voice *

– percussion *

– percussion ;Production *Produced by Ned Lagin *Engineering (1975):

Betty Cantor Betty Cantor-Jackson (born September 18, 1948) is an American audio engineer and producer. She is best known for her work recording live concerts for the Grateful Dead from the late 1960s to the early 1980s, including live album '' Cornell 5/8/77' ...

, Bob Matthews, Bill Wolf *Engineering (1990): Allen Sudduth, John Cutler, Peter Norman *Computer composition software (1975): Ned Lagin *Computer interface and polyphonic keyboard software (1975): Scott Wedge *Cover artwork (1975, 1990): Ruth Poland *Photography (1990): Sal Busalacchi, Ned Lagin

References

External links

*
''Seastones'' album notes
{{Authority control 1975 debut albums Ned Lagin albums Rounder Records albums Rykodisc albums United Artists Records albums